"Urith!" called Julian, imperiously and impatiently, "dost hear what I say? Let us have one more, and a final hitch. Thou holding the staff at one end, I at the other. See, we stand equal, on the same shelf, and each with a heel at the edge of the rock. One step back, and thou or I must go over and be broken on the stones, far below. Dost mark me?"
"I hear what you say," answered Urith.
"I will thrust, and do thou! and see which can drive the other to death. In faith! we have thrust and girded at each other long, and driven each other to desperation. Now let us finish the weary game with a final turn[6] and a fair back."[6]
Urith remained, holding the end of the staff, looking at Julian steadily, without passion. Her face was pale; the wild hair was tossing about it.
"Art ready!" called Julian. "When I say three, then the thrust begins, and one or other of us is driven out of one world into the other."
Urith let fall the end of the staff; "I have no more quarrel with you," she said, "Anthony is dead. I killed him."
Julian stamped angrily. "This is the second time thou hast refused my challenge; though thou didst refuse my glove, thou didst take it up. So now thou refusest, yet may be will still play. As thou wilt: at thine own time—but one or other."
She pointed down the chasm with her staff, and turned away.
FOOTNOTE:
[6] Terms in wrestling. A "turn" is a fall; a "fair back" is one where the three points are touched—head, shoulders, and back.